Snow's BBQ

Living in Austin has so many advantages. One of them is that there is no shortage of BBQ. There are so many different places that you have to chose from.But on this beautiful morning in Austin Texas my friends and I headed to Lexington, TX. To try Snow's BBQ. So at 6am we headed out. With great tunes and great company we arrived at the small town of Lexington. We had no idea what we were about to experience. It will change my life forever.

We arrived at Snow's around 7:30 and yes there were already people outside waiting to go in. We stood outside waiting around for the doors to open along with about 4 other people. While standing there we met a man from Georgia. Who was waiting as well for a great experience. We stood there staring at what could only be described as greatness. With 7 pits going we watched pit master tootsie working her magic. Going back and forth from sausage to brisket to pork ribs to the pork shoulders. Everything smelled like a little piece of heaven. We walked around the restaurant just buying time till we could go in. The restaurant looked the same as it did when it opened. Paint fading and old furniture lying in the grass. Something that you wouldn't expect from the number 1 BBQ place in Texas. But at the same time it's what you should expect from it.

The doors opened at 7:57. Yes i was so anxious to get inside that all I could do was to just keep checking the time. We walk in and there stood four welcoming ladies. They cut and weighed our meat right in front of us. While we tried to decide what different types of meats we were going to eat we figured that we should just combine everything. So with 2 pounds of brisket 1 pound of sausage and 1 pound of pork ribs. We took our free beans and condiments and headed to a table. We decided that we should sit outside and enjoy the Texas weather. At our table we found where they were keeping one of the best kept secrets of snow's, the sauce. At most BBQ places you find the sauce in a glass bottle. But at snow's you find it in a ozarka bottle. It was one of the highlights of the day.


Now lets talk about the meat. The first thing that i tried was the brisket. Before i even tasted the meat I could tell that the meat was of the highest quality. The meat was moist and very tender. I had a couple slices of the butt end of the slice where it is the moist tender. The flavor was something that i have never experience. I walked back in and talk to the ladies who i met in the front and tried to learn the secret of snow's BBQ. They told me over and over that the only rub that they used was salt and pepper. I didn't believe them one bit. But as the owner Kerry Bexley walk in he invited me to go back and see what they really used for the rub.I still don't believe what i saw. They really do use just salt and pepper. Yes its that easy. I couldn't believe it myself.I returned back to our table after the tour of the pits from Kerry. I tried the sausage that is brought in by city market in Giddings TX. Not to be confused with city market in Luling Tx. The flavor was spot on the texture was perfect. It was just good all around. The pork ribs were tender as well, and the meat just fell off the bone. It was perfect.

What really surprised us is that while we were eating the owner Kelly Bexley came and sat down with us for about 30-45 minutes just talking about the food and the history. While talking with him I had so many questions for him. Its like i was a kid in a candy store. The questions that i asked were some that i had while in line waiting for the meat. Like why the prices are so cheap. Each pound was under $10. When i asked Kelly why that is his response was "why change the prices when it works, we're not going to change the prices just because we have become more popular" I then asked him if they would ever expand the place because they have made so much more money after the Texas Monthly review. His response was "money isn't everything around here". You have to respect a man who thinks that way. He then showed us the pits and his new pit that he himself made. It took him two months to make it and cost him around $3000. The pit that he made will hold somewhere around 700 lbs of meat.

What i learned from this trip is that we will go far for some BBQ. I looked at the guest book and it was filled with names from people from all over the world. Japan, Germany, and Italy were some of the few. And of course from all over the U.S. I think that in our eyes Snow's is going to stay at the top of our list for a long time. But of course only time will tell if it will. But until then we will wake up early and take the drive from Austin to Lexington to visit our friends tootsie kerry and our dear friend poppy the clown. For Snow's is our favorite place for great BBQ. Good eats my friends.